Well, Jason skated senior nationals this year. Granted he only took 9th but that was without a 3A and with alot of seasoned performers before him. I fully expect him to be in the top 5 this year! I don't see any similarity between him and Johnny Weir other than graceful stroking on the ice and quiet landings on the jumps. And if I'm not mistaken, he's only 18 years olo. So much potential and so much time to develop.

I know it's a bit late, but I've meant to ask but simply not got round to it - was the quad he landed Ross Miner's first in competition? Because it felt like such a triumph - it must have given him such a rush - I know it did me, and I was only watching. There's something special about landing the first quad, I think - and may there be many more for him!

I like him, but while I know many praise his subtle qualities, I do think he should go a little more "out" on his FP - he is portraying Errol Flynn after all.

Ross's quad salchow at NHK was his first landed successfully in competition. He didn't try a quad in competition in the 2011-2012, so he only tried adding one to his program this season. He practices both 4t and 4S but the 4S comes easier to him, so he added it to the programs first.

Brown I think is going to be the next Johnny Weir once he goes senior. Talented, interesting skaters, but I wonder about what his marks will be like once he goes senior. He doesn't fit the traditional mold of the male figure skater which could help or hurt him.

His PCS at Nationals was already competitive in Senior Men (he's skated Senior for 2 seasons at Nationals already) and the international judges have seemingly embraced his skating so far. There IS something magical about him when you see him live where you can't not watch him...he's always had this quality.

His PCS at Nationals was already competitive in Senior Men (he's skated Senior for 2 seasons at Nationals already) and the international judges have seemingly embraced his skating so far. There IS something magical about him when you see him live where you can't not watch him...he's always had this quality.

This is true. I hope he can put up a better score at JW though, otherwise he might be in trouble next season in regards to GPs. He hasn't broke 200 points yet so as is he will be far below the top 25 cutoff, and missing the podium at JGPF won't help his WS much, if he's not in the top 25 for either, he won't have any guarantees, meaning he might not get invites and need a host spot to get even one GP, and there are a lot of other good US men in line for the host spot who have quads like Aaron and Messing. Josh I'm less worried about because his 218+ from Lake Placid can probably just get him in the top 25 SB, and after JGPF and wiping of 10/11 season where he didn't get many points, he should be into top 25 WS, and JGPF silver will help his ranking, so even if JW doesn't go so well, he should be alright for getting a guaranteed assignment, and maybe getting 2. I know Jason has yet to skate his best at his internationals this season, so I don't doubt he CAN get a score in the top 25 list, but he really only has one more shot to do so.

This is true. I hope he can put up a better score at JW though, otherwise he might be in trouble next season in regards to GPs. He hasn't broke 200 points yet so as is he will be far below the top 25 cutoff, and missing the podium at JGPF won't help his WS much, if he's not in the top 25 for either, he won't have any guarantees, meaning he might not get invites and need a host spot to get even one GP, and there are a lot of other good US men in line for the host spot who have quads like Aaron and Messing. Josh I'm less worried about because his 218+ from Lake Placid can probably just get him in the top 25 SB, and after JGPF and wiping of 10/11 season where he didn't get many points, he should be into top 25 WS, and JGPF silver will help his ranking, so even if JW doesn't go so well, he should be alright for getting a guaranteed assignment, and maybe getting 2. I know Jason has yet to skate his best at his internationals this season, so I don't doubt he CAN get a score in the top 25 list, but he really only has one more shot to do so.

Jason is already #29 on the SB list with his score from Istanbul and is #24 on WR, so I don't think you need to worry so much about Jason either. He has several months until JW, so I think he will improve.

If Ross skates clean like he did at the NHK trophy, he'll win for sure. He seemed very pleased and confident in his LP. The audience ate him up with a spoon! If he makes it to WChamps ( I hate to use WC because in Europe it means the toilets!), he needs to brush up his SP and PCS. The music he uses in his long program suits him perfect.

If Ross skates clean like he did at the NHK trophy, he'll win for sure. He seemed very pleased and confident in his LP. The audience ate him up with a spoon! If he makes it to WChamps ( I hate to use WC because in Europe it means the toilets!), he needs to brush up his SP and PCS. The music he uses in his long program suits him perfect.

I don't think a clean Ross will beat a clean Jeremy if both do a quad, and I'd argue a clean Ricky with 2 quads (and one of his 3a in the 2nd half) would probably come out ahead of a clean Ross with his NHK content. Of course, I think Ross skating clean or close to it is a lot more likely than Jeremy or Ricky skating clean at this point, but I actually think, should they all be clean, Ross would wind up 3rd. 1st or 2nd is more likely due to Ross's consistency and Jeremy and Ricky's, at least recent, track record, but I think on paper, he is the 3rd best man right now when it comes down to it. His PCS are maybe a bit better than Dornbush, but only slightly, and that will be more than made up if Ricky does 2 quads as he plans too, and not as strong as Abbott, while Abbott also has superior spins, and both Dornbush and Abbott have more "textbook" and less ground out 3a technique, in addition to jumps that in general look less forced. Even a clean Armin or Josh with a quad in the FS could come close to matching Ross's marks potentially, IMO, it just comes down to Ross being more likely to skate clean/close to it than any of his main competition.

Abbott has had a lot of trouble getting decent spin levels the last couple years.

PCS would still put him ahead of Ross if they both skate clean with quad in SP and 1 quad and 2 3a in FS. Clean Jeremy gets marked through the roof at Nationals, usually deservedly, thing is once he makes one mistake he's prone to making others, and then they mar the performance and the marks go down quite a bit. And Abbott is such a good spinner so the level thing surprises me a bit.

The thing about Ross vs. Ricky, is that Ross plans a 4s, 3a, 3a-2t, and 3lz-2t all in the first half of his program, he does have the 3f-1/2lo-3s seq in the 2nd half but that's the only big point getter in his program after the halfway mark. Meanwhile, Ricky plans 4t-2t, 4t, and 3a in the first half of his program, but then has 3a-2t-2lo and 3lz (tano)-3t (tano) in the 2nd half, so his BV is going to be quite a bit higher. Assuming the PCS marks will be similar, a clean Ricky should top a clean Ross, due to 2 quads and a less front-loaded program (2 big combos in the 2nd half, one with 3a). But this is just on paper, Dornbush isn't as consistent and his layout is more ambitious.